Robot for cleaning swimming pools

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a robot for cleaning swimming pools, comprising driving means which can transmit movement to movement means, where the movement means comprise two wheels ( 2 ) arranged in line on each side ( 3, 4 ) of the robot, the robot having two sides ( 3, 4 ), the driving means consisting of a drive unit ( 5 ) which is operatively connected to two wheels ( 2 ) located on a first side ( 3 ) of the robot, comprising at least one drive shaft ( 6 ) which allows transmitting the movement originating from the drive unit ( 5 ) from said first side ( 3 ) to the wheels ( 2 ) located on a second side ( 4 ).

This application claims priority of Spanish Patent Application No. P201131675, filed Oct. 18, 2011, the entire contents of which are herebyincorporated by reference into this application.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a robot for cleaning swimming pools,which can be applied to the aquatic facility maintenance industry, andmore specifically in the environment of performing automated maintenancetasks in swimming pool basins.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There are robots today for automatically performing the tasks ofcleaning the surfaces of swimming pool basins, both the bottom and theside walls, for which said robots have the capacity of movingautonomously along the bottom and the walls of the basin, as well assuction and storage means for sucking in and storing the dirt found inthe basin, dirt being understood as any type of impurities such asleaves or solid waste which are deposited on the bottom or on the sidewalls of the basin.

For autonomous movement, most of these cleaning robots have movementmeans consisting of caterpillar tracks, usually of rubber or anotherelastic material for the purpose of preventing damage to the surface ofthe basin. One example of this type of robots can be found in Frenchpatent application no. FR-2946378-A1. Even though caterpillar tracksallow having a large contact surface for the forward movement of therobot, allowing sufficient driving capacity for forward movement,precisely because of the particularities of these movement means, inaddition to having a high maintenance cost, in which the caterpillartracks sustain high wear and when any of the caterpillar tracks must bereplaced due to wear or breakage, replacement is difficult. Likewise,these devices have a high number of parts and their arrangement iscomplex from a mechanical point of view, implying a high manufacturingcost.

For the purpose of overcoming the drawbacks of robots with caterpillartracks, robots for cleaning swimming pools the movement means of whichconsist of wheels, have recently emerged on the market, such as forexample the model described in U.S. design Pat. application No.UD-D599967-S. This robot has a front cleaning roller or brush and a rearpropulsion turbine, and consists of four wheels independent from oneanother and two geared motors, such that the robot has two drive wheels,which in the mentioned example are the front wheels. The drawbacks ofthese robots include the fact that given the configuration of itsdriving means and transmission to the movement means, its movementcapacity is only in a single direction, according to one and the samedirection, being able to rotate about itself to change said forwarddirection, which implies cleaning down times during said manoeuvres,which taking into account the size of a basin, means a lot of wastedtime when cleaning the entire basin.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a robot for cleaning swimming poolswhich allows having a four-wheel drive and bidirectional robot, all witha simple arrangement, which has a lower cost than currently existingrobots. The robot of the invention allows a much simpler assembly andmaintenance than the currently existing robots, precisely because of thesimplicity in the number of necessary elements as well as theirarrangement.

The robot proposed by the invention comprises driving means which cantransmit its movement to movement means comprising two wheels arrangedin line on each side of the robot, the robot having two sides.

Therefore, according to the invention the driving means consist of asingle drive unit, which can consist of a geared motor which isoperatively connected, with two wheels located on a first side of therobot, being able to transmit a driving force which is converted intomovement. The robot comprises at least one drive shaft which allowstransmitting the movement originating from the drive unit from saidfirst side to the wheels located on a second side.

The robot of the invention thus has the particularity that it can beconsidered a 4×4 robot, with four-wheel drive, which allows the robot tomove in any direction, i.e., it can go forwards or backwardsindistinctly. This represents a huge advantage with respect to thecurrently existing robots, given that the working environment is underwater and it must have enough driving capacity so as to climb up theside walls of the basin. Precisely because of the high manoeuvrabilityof the robot, and more specifically because of its driving capacity inboth directions, the robot does not involve any cleaning down timeduring its operation, in addition to the robot being able to overcomeobstacles more easily as a result of the four-wheel drive with a singletraction motor.

Currently, the only robots allowing 4×4 drive are caterpillar trackrobots, with the aforementioned drawbacks. However, the robot of theinvention allows reducing the number of necessary components, andtherefore the space, which in turn facilitates its maintenance andallows reducing manufacturing, maintenance and repair costs with respectto the currently existing robots, all these determining factors beingespecially relevant given the robot work place conditions, requiringcomplete water-tightness. The invention thus allows reducing the totalcost of the device by reducing the geared motors from two to one, withall this implies in terms of reducing components and risk when thedevice works under water.

Based on the foregoing, solutions of another type do not provide theeffects achieved with the invention. In this sense, it is not possibleto achieve four-wheel drive by means of a fixed shaft joining the rearand front wheels due to the lack of available space, this being thereason current robots incorporate two geared motors.

The possibility of the robot comprising at least one cleaning rollerwhich is located around a drive shaft is contemplated; said drive shaftis thus used to be incorporated into a cleaning brush which, thoughoptional, is very useful.

Likewise, the drive shaft being arranged in its operating position bymeans of housing at least two pins in at least two holes is alsocontemplated, the pins being able to be located in the drive shaft andthe holes in a casing which the robot comprises robot, or the other wayround, which allows the drive shaft to be unlocked sequentially, firstfrom one hole and then from another, and thus be easily removed by theuser for changing the cleaning roller, without the need for a technicaloperator to intervene. Said pins being retractable is likewisecontemplated.

The fact that the drive shaft can be removed by the user him/herself formaintenance or replacement for allowing the interchangeability both ofthe shaft and of the roller is a huge advantage given that currentrobots require said change to be done by technical services, although inrecent models the cleaning rollers can be removed by the userhim/herself since they are attached to the casing by means of screws.Nevertheless, the robot of the invention has the advantage that it doesnot require screws for locking the drive shaft in its operatingposition, on it can be removed to change the rollers for maintenance orreplacement with a simple key, or even with a pen or the like,sequentially pressing on the pins to unlock them.

The shaft and the brush can thus be removed without the need for toolssuch as screwdrivers, etc.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To complement the description which is being made and for the purpose ofaiding to better understand the features of the invention according to apreferred practical embodiment thereof, a set of drawings is attached asan integral part of said description in which the following has beendepicted with an illustrative and non-limiting character:

FIG. 1 shows a top perspective view of the robot for cleaning swimmingpools proposed by the invention, the location of the dirt storage tanksbeing able to be seen.

FIG. 2 shows a bottom perspective view of the robot, in which thesuction openings and the cleaning roller can be seen in the operatingposition.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic side perspective view of the robot, in whichsome elements have been depicted in a transparent and translucent mannerfor the purpose of allowing the transmission means for transmittingmovement from the driving means to the movement means to be seen.

FIG. 4 shows a top schematic perspective view of the robot in which onlythe transmission means and the movement means, as well as a cleaningroller located in the drive shaft, have been depicted, the transmissionof movement to the driving means, specifically by means of sprocketwheels fixed to the inner side of the wheels, particularly being able tobe seen.

FIG. 5 shows a top perspective view of the robot in which thearrangement of the drive unit in the robot can be seen, for which one ofthe dirt storage tanks has been depicted removed.

FIG. 6 shows two views of the drive shaft, with and without cleaningroller.

FIG. 7 shows a bottom side perspective view of the robot, in which themanner in which the drive shaft can be removed by means of sequentiallyunlocking the pins located at the ends of the drive shaft can be seen.

FIG. 8 shows a bottom perspective view of the robot with the drive shaftremoved, the holes which the casing has for housing the pins of thedrive shaft, as well as the lower space taken up by the cleaning rollerwhen it is in an operating position, i.e., incorporated around the driveshaft when it is placed in the robot, being able to be seen, theintermediate wheels transmitting movement to the transmission wheelswhich the drive shaft has at its ends can also partially be seen.

FIG. 9 shows a top perspective view of the robot in which the uppersuspension handle has been depicted raised and one of the dirt storagetanks removed and the other raised for its removal by means of itscorresponding handle, has been depicted.

FIG. 10 shows a view like that of the preceding figure, in which thetank which had been depicted raised is completely removed with a sidecollapsed for allowing its inside to be cleaned.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

In view of the discussed figures, it can be seen how in one of thepossible embodiments of the invention the robot for cleaning swimmingpools proposed by the invention comprises a cleaning roller (1) anddriving means transmitting movement to movement means.

Said movement means comprise two wheels (2) arranged in line on eachside (3, 4) of the robot, the robot having two sides (3, 4).

In turn, the driving means consist of a single drive unit (5),specifically a geared motor, which is operatively connected to twowheels (2) located on a first side (3) of the robot. The robot alsocomprises at least one drive shaft (6) which allows transmitting themovement originating from the drive unit (5) from said first side (3) tothe wheels (2) located on a second side (4).

According to a preferred embodiment, the robot comprises a drivesprocket wheel (7) directly connected to the drive unit (5), said drivesprocket wheel (7) being operatively connected to a first intermediatesprocket wheel (8) which can transmit movement to two wheels (2) locatedon the first side (3) of the robot, as can be seen in FIGS. 3 and 4.

Said first intermediate sprocket wheel (8) can in turn be operativelyconnected to a first transmission sprocket wheel (9) which is fixed at afirst end of the drive shaft (6), where a second end of said drive shafthas a second transmission sprocket wheel (9′) fixed thereto which can beoperatively connected to a second intermediate sprocket wheel (8′) whichcan transmit movement to two wheels (2) located on the second side (4)of the robot.

For the purpose of minimising the space taken up, the output shaft ofthe drive unit (5) is preferably located perpendicular to thelongitudinal axis of forward movement the robot.

As shown in FIG. 4, the transmission of movement from the intermediatesprocket wheels (8, 8′) to the wheels (2) is performed by means ofsprocket wheels (10) which are fixed to the inner side of the wheels(2), said sprocket wheels (10) being operatively connected to theintermediate sprocket wheels (8, 8′).

On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 2, 4 and 6, the cleaning roller (1)is located around the drive shaft (6). The rotation speed of the driveshaft (6) is obviously greater than that of the wheels (2) so thecleaning roller (1) rotates at that same greater speed, thus increasingcleaning efficiency.

As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the drive shaft (6) is arranged in itsoperating position by means of housing two pins (11) in two holes (12)located in the casing (13) of the robot, thus allowing its sequentialunlocking, as seen in FIG. 7.

According to a preferred embodiment, said casing (13) or enclosureserves as a block in which the drive unit (5), as well as electroniccontrol modules of the robot and a pump motor like those usuallyincorporated in robots of this type for performing cleaning tasks, arehoused.

As the robot moves forward it generates a series of currents allowingthe dirt to be introduced through suction openings (18) located in thelower part inside two dirt storage tanks (14) which have collapsiblehandles (15) for lifting and removing the robot to allow cleaning them,therefore they have a collapsible side (16) facilitating this, as seenin FIG. 10. Said collapsible handles (15) allow, in addition tosuspending the storage tanks (14), fixing the filter itself to the bodyor casing (13) of the robot, taking into account that the robot canincorporate said filters for filtering dirt in the tanks.

The robot also comprises an upper suspension handle (17), equallycollapsible during the operation of the robot, which allows lifting therobot to be transported as a whole.

In view of this description and set of drawings, the person skilled inthe art will be able to understand that the embodiments of the inventionwhich have been described can be changed in many ways within of theobject of the invention. The invention has been described according topreferred embodiments thereof, but for the person skilled in the art itwill be evident that multiple variations can be included in saidpreferred embodiments without exceeding the object of the claimedinvention.

1. A robot for cleaning swimming pools, comprising driving means whichcan transmit movement to movement means, where said movement meanscomprises two wheels (2) arranged in line on each side (3, 4) of therobot, the robot having two sides (3, 4), characterised in that thedriving means consists of a drive unit (5) which is operativelyconnected to two wheels (2) located on a first side (3) of the robot,comprising at least one drive shaft (6) which allows transmitting themovement originating from the drive unit (5) from said first side (3) tothe wheels (2) located on a second side (4).
 2. The robot for cleaningswimming pools according to claim 1, wherein it comprises a drivesprocket wheel (7) directly connected to the drive unit (5), said drivesprocket wheel (7) being operatively connected to a first intermediatesprocket wheel (8) which can transmit movement to two wheels (2) locatedon the first side (3) of the robot, where said first intermediatesprocket wheel (8) can in turn be operatively connected to a firsttransmission sprocket wheel (9) which is fixed at a first end of thedrive shaft (6), where a second end of said drive shaft has a secondtransmission sprocket wheel (9′) fixed thereto which can be operativelyconnected to a second intermediate sprocket wheel (8′) which cantransmit movement to two wheels (2) located on the second side (4) ofthe robot.
 3. The robot for cleaning swimming pools according to claim2, wherein the transmission of movement from the intermediate sprocketwheels (8, 8′) to the wheels (2) is performed by means of sprocketwheels (10) which are fixed to the inner side of the wheels (2), saidsprocket wheels (10) being operatively connected to the intermediatesprocket wheels (8, 8′).
 4. The robot for cleaning swimming poolsaccording to claim 1, wherein it comprises at least one cleaning roller(1) located around a drive shaft (6).
 5. The robot for cleaning swimmingpools according to claim 1, wherein the drive shaft (6) is arranged inits operating position by means of housing at least two pins (11) in atleast two holes (12).
 6. The robot for cleaning swimming pools accordingto claim 2, wherein it comprises at least one cleaning roller (1)located around a drive shaft (6).
 7. The robot for cleaning swimmingpools according to claim 3, wherein it comprises at least one cleaningroller (1) located around a drive shaft (6).
 8. The robot for cleaningswimming pools according to claim 2, wherein the drive shaft (6) isarranged in its operating position by means of housing at least two pins(11) in at least two holes (12).
 9. The robot for cleaning swimmingpools according to claim 3, wherein the drive shaft (6) is arranged inits operating position by means of housing at least two pins (11) in atleast two holes (12).
 10. The robot for cleaning swimming poolsaccording to claim 4, wherein the drive shaft (6) is arranged in itsoperating position by means of housing at least two pins (11) in atleast two holes (12).
 11. The robot for cleaning swimming poolsaccording to claim 6, wherein the drive shaft (6) is arranged in itsoperating position by means of housing at least two pins (11) in atleast two holes (12).
 12. The robot for cleaning swimming poolsaccording to claim 7, wherein the drive shaft (6) is arranged in itsoperating position by means of housing at least two pins (11) in atleast two holes (12).